West Virginia town halls

Early this afternoon the Associated Press reported on attempts to get West Virginia's congressional delegation to attend a town hall meeting about the future of health care:

Demonstrators at the Capitol in Charleston are calling on the state's congressional delegation to hear their concerns about the Affordable Care Act.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports more than 200 people gathered on Saturday to invite the representatives to an April 19 town hall event inside the state Culture Center.

Republicans Sen. Shelley Moore Capito and Reps. Evan Jenkins, David McKinley and Alex Mooney have previously indicated they want to repeal the law. Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin has said he wants to fix the parts of the law that don't work instead of repealing it.

One town hall organizer, West Virginia Healthy Kids and Families Coalition director Stephen Smith, said only Manchin has indicated so far that he would attend.

The demonstrators want the senators and congressional representatives to refrain from voting on any health care law before attending the town hall meeting. They also don't want them to vote for any bill that takes away health care for West Virginia families.

This would seem like a reasonable request but will any of them, beyond Manchin, attend this town hall?

How about a local McKinley town hall meeting?

Perhaps just as important, when is Representative McKinley going to hold a town hall meeting with his constituents in the 1st congressional district? I'm sure many citizens have comments and questions for him about a number of topics including the replacement for Obamacare and the futures of both Social Security and Medicare. I checked online (including his congressional website) and could find no mention of any recent past or future McKinley town hall meetings. Isn't it about time, congressman?

Local "newspaper" coverage of the West Virginia town hall story?

The Miami Herald posted the Associated Press story mentioned above at 1:13 PM Sunday. That's plenty of time for it to make tomorrow's Intelligencer. Will the local papers cover this AP story about the state's representatives? We shall see.

Update - February 27

Morgan County USA points out that West Virginia's senators and representatives are getting together to meet with their constituents. Unfortunately for West Virginians, it will not be in West Virginia:

The West Virginia Congressional delegation has refused to hold town halls in West Virginia – for fear of being pelted with questions from angry constituents back home.

But lo and behold, the entire delegation has now decided to hold a town hall of sorts.

Not in West Virginia.

But in the belly of the beast – the swamp.

Washington, D.C.

That would be Room G-50 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

March 8 from 6 pm to 8 p.m.

It's called the West Virginia State Society’s Congressional Reception. Learn more about it here.

That's one way to dodge tough questions from your constituents.

Additionally -- both Wheeling papers carried the AP story about town halls. (Page 13 in the morning and page 9 in the evening.)